I don't really view it in terms of winners and losers. Of course victors give their lives in the end the same as the vanquished. I'm talking about it more in terms of people giving their lives for an ideal. it is true that perhaps a song liked No Nation on this Earth deals far more with the small nations of this earth who stand up to tyranny and are often over run or put to the sword, their people the nameless dead. Yet the Nameless Dead can often simply be soldiers on either side. Travel around Europe, around
countries even that you would consider "winners" and look at the state of society, the apathetic nature of people, the breakdown of community, the blind hatred of a society weened on celebrity gossip, daytime tv, gameshows, football, witness the mindless vandalism in the town squares at night, the hollow nature of a consumer driven society who doesn't give a fuck about anyone else but themselves. Drunk on the Free Market politics of self interest. Whatever you want. And then look at the cenotaphs and monuments from great wars to young men and women in these very town squares. And this is only looking at things in terms of modern society there are loads of other equally dark angles to look at the equation. Not many of them offering much hope.

Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Portugal, Did you visit these countries on tour? Or was it pleasure journeys?

Some on tour, some personal over the years. Thankfully the band has been quite a few places I would never get to. It's perhaps the greatest perk of being in a band.

Do you like to travel?

Of course. i would have thought that was self evident from the very liner notes you based your first question on?.

Any other countries that intrigue you? (and why?)

I find America very intriguing and will return there. South America, Former Soviet states and Russia, the Middle East. Wherever you name mostly...

Are empires good or bad? (and why and how?)

What a huge question. I could write a dissertation or thesis on the subject. Well the easiest way I can say it is perhaps look at the Roman Empire and what they brought to the people's they conquered. Roads, irrigation, viaducts, sewers etc. Think the section in the Life of Brian with the Judean People's Front/What did the Romans ever do for us !. The on the other side of things think about the pogroms under the Former Soviet Union in the Baltic States in the 1930's for example. Or Ireland's oppression by the English....

To the nameless dead seems to have put you in a spot of sudden fame, but you do not come across as the fame seeking guys. How do you feel about this?

It is gratifying that we appear to be taking the band to another level with this album. I think we deserve it, we are an honest, real band not using cheap marketing gimmicks or jumping trends. What goes around comes around. The mainstream needs us challenging them. However, you are right. We do what we do regardless. we always have and always will.

The growls or shrieks on this album is at a minimum. I interviewed you a couple of years ago, and then you told me that the so called clean vocals are even harder on your throat. Will you be able to redo this performance live?

Well the very brutal but clean vocals were harder but now I find the Black Metal vocals harder on the throat but it's a moot point. I can do them all live.

The sound of "The gathering wilderness" was in a way "filthy. What was the thoughts about sound before producing this new album?

To make it rounder and fuller. Richer, heavier and with more depth. I think we got that finally. Better drum and vocal sound as well. Tha Gathering is rough and ready but I think it suits the atmosphere. Every album is just meant to capture an atmosphere, not perfection. Flaws give character. I'm not interested in bands that sound like machines.

Thanks for your time and energy!

no problem
strength and joy

N

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